The field of the disclosure relates generally to turbine engines, and more particularly, to a compliant shaft element for turbine engines.
Conventional turbine engine configurations having separate components coupled to a common shaft may require different rotational speeds to perform a desired function. For example, a turbine may have a required rotational speed that is significantly higher that a required rotational speed of a fan. To accommodate for this difference in speed a gear box (e.g., a power gear box (PGB)) may be utilized between the fan and low pressure turbine to allow each of the components to operate at different speeds. However, due to loads imposed on the components of the turbine engine during operation (e.g., various stages of flight), such gear box configurations may suffer from misalignments between one or more shafts coupling the fan to the gear box and the gear box to the low pressure turbine. Such misalignments may cause unfavorable operating conditions internally within the gear box, thereby leading to excessive wear or premature failure of components of the gear box or other ancillary components (e.g., bearings).
To mitigate such misalignments, conventional turbine engines may utilize a plurality of bolted flanges or splines to provide flexibility to the shafts, thereby preventing or correcting the misalignments. However, the inventors have observed that such solutions require the use of multiple separate components (e.g., flanges, bolts and the like), thereby adding complexity and/or weight to the engine.
Therefore, the inventors have provided a compliant shaft for turbine engines.